Music Education

Helping to bolster music programs in Los Angeles schools, a music education campaign donated $150,000 worth of instruments to seven elementary schools. Executives from the "VH1 Save the Music" program presented an average of 30 instruments, including cellos, flutes and trumpets, to each of the seven schools, said Bob Morrison, spokesman for VH1.

Re Interview, Judith Balfe, Opinion, Feb. 25: My ticket to the magic and creative world of music started in 1958 with a 10-cent school bus ride from Bell Gardens Elementary to the L.A. Philharmonic. With the downbeat of the conductor's baton, a whole new world became alive before my eyes and filled my ears with a love and appreciation of music that grows to this day. It's not too late to inspire and educate through music. A string or wind ensemble can travel to the elementary schools where children await with open minds and ears.

Shakespeare wrote about the "sweet power of music." Now scientists are finding that the bard was more correct than he could have possibly known. A team of UC Irvine researchers Friday released results of a pilot study they said strongly indicates that music education stimulates the brains of preschool children to enhance learning. "There are growing indications that music serves as nurturing stimulation to exercise the intellect," said Norman Weinberger, a psychobiologist at UCI.

How can the issue of arts education programs be made as compelling as, say, global human rights? Put Stevie Wonder in charge of it. Who else could turn the phrase "music education in the schools" into a funky call-and-response chant? That's what Wonder did--twice--in appearances during the taping of the fourth annual VH1 Honors concert Thursday at the Universal Amphitheatre, an annual benefit dedicated this year to music education.

Gustavo Dudamel will fly to Caracas, Venezuela for the funeral Friday of President Hugo Chavez, and the L.A. Philharmonic music director might lead a concert tied to the Chavez events. The Venezuelan-born conductor is expected to head to Caracas directly after the Thursday evening performance of "The Gospel According to the Other Mary" at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Grant Gershon, the artistic director of the L.A. Master Chorale, will conduct the Friday evening performance of the piece.

Gustavo Dudamel, 31, seems practically middle-aged compared to Jose Angel Salazar, a 14-year-old El Sistema student who has gained attention recently for his talent as a conductor. Salazar is the subject of a recent profile by Reuters that recounts his training in El Sistema,Venezuela's state-funded program that provides free music education to disadvantaged youth. The report states that Salazar is the youngest conductor in the country. Dudamel, who was also trained in El Sistema and is the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, was in his early 20s when he started attracting international attention.

NEW DELHI - When Gavin Martin and his family moved here from southern India in the early '70s, the country's capital city offered the gifted young pianist exactly one option for continuing his music education: the Delhi School of Music. It was the only place in town - perhaps in the whole of northern India - that taught Western classical music with any degree of competence. Even so, life wasn't easy for the serious student born in a country where the sitar is king. "Growing up in India playing the piano was kind of like [being]

Shakespeare wrote about the "sweet power of music." Now scientists are finding that the bard was more correct than perhaps even he knew. A team of UC Irvine researchers released results of a pilot study Friday that they said strongly indicates that music education stimulates the brains of preschool children and enhances learning. The children in the study could perform certain tasks better after having music training, the researchers said.

With music training, or even appreciation, so scarce in public schools these days, parents find themselves in a bind when they hear news reports that music instruction, the earlier the better, seems to sharpen kids' overall learning ability. But this Saturday, parents with toddlers ages 18 months to 3 years can provide a little bit of music appreciation and experience for their youngsters. At the Barnes & Noble in Northridge from 10 to 11 a.m.